Saturday, 30 March 2013

Skirmish at Beavers Rest

With the weather continuing to conspire against the Shed Wars gamers and having played only one game this year I decided to seize the initiative. I set up a game in the comforts of my kitchen.

Fortunately I have a board 5 foot x 5 foot already flocked. Every so often I use this as an extension to my bigger table down in the shed.

So with a smaller set up I hosted a mini game of Muskets & Tomahawks with forty figures aside. With little time for preparation we agreed that this would be a straightforward engagement battle, with one side winning when the other had suffered 2/3rds casualties. To spice things up we used the secondary objective rules – as the French I rolled the die...Prisoner. I had to rescue a comrade that could be sited anywhere on the board. Not surprisingly my opponent positioned him right on the base line. His role revealed ‘thwart the enemy plans’ in other words he merely had to stop me from achieving mine.

"The Skirmish at Beavers Rest"

The Settlement of Beavers Rest

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The settlement of Beavers Rest - a different view

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The Protagonists:

The French

Units

Number of Units

Number of Men/Unit

Weapons

Regular Office

1

1

Pistol

Regular Infantry

1

10

Muskets

Coureur Officer

1

1

Muskets

Coureurs

3

6

Muskets

Native Indians

2

6

Muskets

42

The British

Units

Number of Units

Number of Men/Unit

Weapons

Regular Office

1

1

Pistol

Regular Infantry

1

12

Muskets

Ranger Officer

1

1

Rifles

Rangers

2

8

Rifles

Native Indians

2

6

Muskets

42

As can be seen in the above lists the forces are of similar size BUT whereas the French have one more unit the British units are larger. It is my considered opinion that larger units are stronger in this game as morale is significantly more robust. This means these units hang around on the field longer. Secondly the British had two large units of Rifle armed Rangers. The combination of the smaller table and classifying all woodland and fences as light cover played into the Rangers hands and the rifles additional range was to prove devastating in this particular game.

The table as seen from this birds eye view showed a small village of four cabins straddling a road and junction. Surrounding the village was light woodland. The buildings although timber were classified as hard cover.

Deployment of forces was made along the base edges for both sides.

Turn One

Inevitably both sides moved forward to secure defensive positions across the battlefield. The British Forces consolidated to the North west and centre, meanwhilst my French Indians hastily moved along the Eastern edge to try and flank the advancing British. With no forces in observable range no firing took place.

Indians rushing forward and avoiding Daisy the Cow

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Coureurs taking cover along the woods edge

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Rangers and Natives lie in Wait (vigilant - white counters)

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Turn Two

The British Regulars advanced into the largest of the cabins manning every window and door. This was going to be a tough nut to crack.

Thinking that my regular French would make minemeat of the sheltering redcoats wioth a quick volley by firing line at close effective range I let rip. Every single shot missed !

Hoping for another French Line card to be drawn my plans were thwarted when the defending redcoats sounded off a sporadic volley, 3 men in the French line dropped, this was soon followed by a further volley from the Log building – six dice rolled – 5 sixes scored – five men killed with all lethality rolls successful. In the space of one turn my loyal French regular unit had suffered 70% casualties and were driven from the field.

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What are the odds on that !

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With the French regulars needing support my Coureurs opened fire at the redcoat strongpoint, again every musket shot failed to find a target. However the blacksmoke had now given their positions away and deadly musket fire from Indians and Ranger rifles began to tell. By the end of round two the French had lost close to 40% casualties with no losses on the British side.

Turn Three

Meanwhile the British Indians had approached the cabin to the west and wanting to deny this cover to the advancing Coureurs they set fire to the building.

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Suitable lighting for a blazing cabin

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Things were looking desparate, could the French allied Indians on the eastern flank make a difference. From the cover of the trees they opened fire in rapid succession on the Rangers in the road. The ensuing firefight dropped four rangers with the rest taking flight, two Indians fell to the rifled weapons with again the brittle Indians recoiling in response.

Birds eve view end of turn two

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British in a strong position

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Rangers supporting the Cabin

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With no further danger from the centre the Redcoats reformed into line outside the farmhouse and presented arms to meet the Indian threat.

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Line advancing to clear the wood of pesky Indians

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Elsewhere the remaining Coureurs were savaged by continued British fire. By the end of turn three 20 of the 42 French men and allies were dead. (the British had lost seven !). No morale card just yet. Within two cards two more Frenchmen lay dead or dying and the magic 50% had been achieved. Next card an event. By chance this was called the end of turn. With the morale card for the French now in play the position was hopeless so a hasty retreat was sounded. ﻿﻿

What was left of the French Line

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A stunning, brutal massacre for the British.

Learnings

-The smaller table gave significantly less room for maneuver and we probably had too many troops on the table

-Despite plenty of light cover the rifles were master of the battlefield – their longer range an +1 to hit in skilled hands (4+ shooting) was devastating against the Coureurs

-Once again the Indians were proved to be too brittle – we were not playing hidden movement